As our cities and urban neighborhoods grow and change, cities and local authorities scramble to find transport solutions that make our communities more livable. Advances in transportation technology although significant at macro levels have yet to make a big difference to how most people get around in their day to day lives. Initiatives to get more people out of their cars and using public transport are hitting all too familiar barriers, typified by poor access, low usage and high cost. Poor access leads to low usage and this leads to high costs, all of which exacerbate the problem of finding mobility solutions that are sustainable, practical and long lasting. Bike sharing and car sharing are growing in usage and costs are decreasing, but overall they still remain niche services that are only accessible to the residents who actively seek them out.

The bike-sharing system is a significant innovation in the field of mobility solutions. According to Transport for London statistics, since their inception in 2010, bike sharing schemes have increased year on year and e-bikes in particular, have been very popular since arriving on London's streets. In 2022, there were a quarter of a million hires of e-bikes. Several firms, like Lime and Jump, have entered the market to capitalize on this demand. Companies like Lime have placed thousands of bikes across the city, turning a service that was initially well intentioned into a hot topic that presents cities with new challenges all of their own making. Reducing car use, air pollution and providing a healthier mode of transport are often cited as the main benefits to bike sharing schemes seen in most of the UK's large cities. However, poor maintenance, anti-social behavior and illegal/unsafe riding have also become an all to frequent occurrence in cities where these schemes operate.

Because they do not own the bikes, some users pay little attention to where they leave them, hence they are often left in parks, on pavements as they wait for the next rider. Even with all its challenges, some would still argue that the positives outweigh the negatives, and that as these services mature, new solutions will take their place and mitigate some of these challenges. In fact, KEYS believes that the problems of poor access, poor usage and increase costs can be fixed by a change in strategy. Instead of carpet bombing our communities with bikes and car sharing schemes, the digital infrastructure that provides such services should instead be the priority.

A shared infrastructure would allow for better execution of mobility solutions strategies and thereby secure better outcomes for communities. In order for any service to be sustainable, there must be accountability and responsibility by providers and users. Whether its bike sharing, car sharing, cargo bikes or scooters, provision must be governed by the users themselves in order to better align with their demands and behaviors.

KEYS believes that by providing residents with the power to determine the solutions that work for them leads to better outcomes overall. Rather than overcrowding our city streets with e-bikes, KEYS plans to provide only the number of bikes required by the community and they determine if they need more, or less. Locating mobility solutions within the development as a communal service rather than dispersing them throughout the city gives a sense of collective ownership and shared responsibility.

Residents therefore have a stake in their success as a mode for transportation for their community, meaning the chance of them lying abandoned in a pond or unused in a public car park are significantly decreased. Community-centric schemes operate with significantly less operating costs than city wide initiatives. According to a study commissioned by the Dutch government, average costs per bike for city schemes came close to 1200 euros per bike, this is more than double what KEYS calculates as the operating cost for community-centric schemes.

In our opinion, a community-centric approach to mobility schemes is the most effective technique for making the shift to green transportation a viable option for the majority of people. According to a KEYS study, in large mixed-use developments, 17% of people would utilise vehicle sharing one to four times per month if it were part of the communal offering. This is a substantially greater usage rate than is possible with schemes that rely on memberships that are not location-bound.

According to a survey by Research and Markets, the worldwide car-sharing industry reached $7 billion in 2022 and is predicted to expand to $15.4 billion by 2028. Furthermore, Moneybarn states that overall public demand for car sharing has increased by 21.91%. But similarly to city wide bike sharing schemes they rely on the same carpet-bombing approach that sees some solutions lie unused for days at a time because of poor access and high customer acquisition costs.